One Small Step for Neil Armstrong, A Giant Leap for Australian Accountancy

It appears that Certified Practicing Accountants Australia (the CPA) has scored a rare interview with Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. The interview is about an hour long and can be viewed at the CPA’s blog, where Mr. Armstrong holds forth on a variety of matters related to the space race. In an excerpt for the Guardian, he tells us that he thought they only had a 50% chance of landing on the moon and gives this hairy account of the landing:

When Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made their descent aboard the Eagle to the moon’s surface, the on-board computer had intended to put them down on the side of a large crater with steep slopes littered with huge boulders. “Not a good place to land at all,” said Armstrong. “I took it over manually and flew it like a helicopter out to the west direction, took it to a smoother area without so many rocks and found a level area and was able to get it down there before we ran out of fuel. There was something like 20 seconds of fuel left.”

I guess it wouldn’t have been quite the same type of public relations coup for the US state if, after landing on the moon, the astronauts revealed to an enthralled US public that they were going to have to starve to death up there.

How did the CPA score this interview? Apparently Neil Armstrong’s dad was an auditor, so it’s natural that Mr. Armstrong should pour out his heart and soul to the Australian branch. Why didn’t the US branch think of this?

Anyway, if you’re interested in Neil Armstrong’s opinions about the space race and descriptions of his experiences, then check out the CPA website – unless, of course, the interview is as much of a hoax as the original landing!

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credit where it’s due: the photo that clearly discredits the moon landing story is from stuff you can use.